Addicted
by TheAriaofSummer
Summary: “Chuck?” He turns and he kneels pulling her into his chest, because in saying his name, she's given him permission to care. C/J
1. Addictions

**Title: **Addictions

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing.

**Rating: **PG

**A/N: **You can interpret this however you want.

He opens the bathroom door and flicks on the fan, irritated and tired. He just spent an entire evening with the dumbest brunette in all of Manhattan and he's not even getting laid.

He needs a cigarette.

It's his addiction, he's excited for the familiar smell and taste of his expensive imported cigarettes. He knows it's dangerous, and cancerous but he doesn't care much. He wouldn't mind dying young and beautiful. He wouldn't mind that at all. Half the shit he pulls is dangerous and people have come to expect it from him. Hell, even he expects it from himself. What he doesn't expect is to see his stepmother's boyfriend's daughter curled up on the floor of his bathroom, half dressed and sobbing. She looks up at him briefly, her dusky eyes drowning in tears. Her body's shaking. He doesn't want to interrupt a private moment, and so he turns.

"Chuck?"

He turns and he kneels pulling her into his chest, because in saying his name, she's given him permission to care. He's pulling her away from the unused razor blade lying menacingly on the tiled floor. She's never seemed the type of girl who would cut herself, but then again, he's never seen her so distraught.

Not even when he almost...he cuts his thoughts off there.

He can't think about that right now.

He was drunk.

It was a mistake.

He's already apologized.

She chokes back her sobs for a moment and looks up at him, her body stilled in his arms. He knows she's thinking about that too. Jennifer Humphrey clutches him to her, grasping at his sweater wildly, pulling him closer.

Making sure he's there.

Making sure he's not leaving her.

She needs someone, anyone.

He smoothes her white-blonde hair out of her eyes and let's her grieve. He doesn't know what's wrong, so he doesn't know how he can help her. But he's determined to find out, because once he does, the jackass that hurt her is going to be sorry. It's the least he can do for her.

When she's calm enough to sleep, he picks her up and lays her down on his step-sisters bed. She sleeps curled up against him and he finds, that he no longer wants a cigarette. Instead he plays with her hair, soft waves of sunshine across the pillowcase. He's just replaced one addiction with another but…

The new one might be just as hazardous as the last.


	2. Even Angels Fall

**Title:** Even Angels Fall

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

**Rating:** PG

**A/N:** You may interpret however you deem fit, romantic or friendship.

Chuck had found hope once. Found hope in the shape of Blair Waldorf. Blair had believed in him. Blair believed that he was a better person than everyone, even Chuck, assumed. Blair had helped him find faith. Faith in himself anyways. She told him that he could run Victrola, and if _Blair Waldorf_

said he could, then it must have been true. Yet, Blair had yanked all his hope and faith out from under his feet when she had given up on him. No words or actions could have been so quickly debilitating as her having lost all hope in his sorry state.

He had loved her once. Loved every word she spoke, every noise she made, every honest smile she'd graced him with. Now, he's not even sure his heart is fixable. Because when Blair breaks something, she breaks it properly. Mangles, chars, crushes, and smashes it. He admits it to Jenny Humphrey the morning after he discovers her mid-meltdown. In his own way.

"At least I breakdown tactfully." Jenny glanced up at him, surprised. He was admitting to being in possession of feelings. It wasn't hard for her to fill in the rest,

"Bringing home call girls and prima ballerinas is tactfully breaking down?" She questioned him tightly, brushing her white blonde hair out of her eyes.

"No, breaking down tactfully is drinking your way to the bottom of seven bottls of Italian wine from 1942." He gestured to the neat line of bottles across the windowsill/

"Chuck?" Jenny said softly "The hardest part of falling down, is getting back up."

"Thank you, but I happen to like where I've fallen." Chuck smirked bitterly at her and Jenny didn't believe a word of it. It was all bullshit and they both knew it. She stood from the spot on Serena's bed where she's been sleeping and tentatively closes the gap between them, enveloping him in a hug.

"It's okay to try and get back up Chuck, God knows even angels fall."

Chuck Bass was no angel, but Jenny offered him a second chance when she gave him that hug. And he took it, because if little Jenny Humphrey though he was redeemable, there was hope for him yet.


	3. Never Say Never

**Title:** Never Say Never

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

**Rating:** PG

**A/N:** You may interpret however you deem fit, romantic or friendship.

Other than that one night, when he'd had too much to drink and was wallowing in his own self pity, he wouldn't talk with her about that night. The one when he'd almost raped the freshmen girl with angel blonde hair and innocent blue eyes. He hadn't known her then, he'd barely known himself. Somewhere between his memorable limo ride with Blair and his Father's funeral, Little J had recreated herself drastically. Chuck cocked his head and studied her, they were alone in Lily's apartment. She was curled up on the couch reading a book, and he was coming home from a business meeting. She no longer looked like a miniature Serena, he'd told her, and she smiled. Her smile thin and guarded. It was better they sat in silence then bring up the rooftop mistake. It was a comfortable silence, he thought as he tilted his martini glass artfully. Almost like when he would hold Blair in his arms while she slept, or when he let the opium steal away his senses in Thailand. He's fallen in and back out love with different things, Blair, opium, Blair, wine, Blair and well, Blair. Maybe, just maybe little Humphrey would be added to that list?

"You know Jennifer, I regret that night at the Kiss On Lips party, and if you would permit me-" Jenny didn't look up from her book.

"No Chuck."

"Just remember my proposition Humphrey." He said smoothly, standing up.

"No Chuck. Absolutely not, by no means, negative, nix, no way, not by any means." Her voice was calm and light, when she glanced up her eyes were happy, content. But, Chuck looked slightly peeved at being shot down so ruthlessly.

"I wanted a reply, not a thesaurus entry." Jenny frowned. She owed him a lot, she knew she did. The last few days he'd been understanding and courteous and almost, sweet?

"I mean never in the most respectful way possible." Chuck kneeled on one knee and took her hands in his, brushing each one gently.

"Never say never Humphrey." She was tempted to yank her hands from his, but the way his dark eyes were gazing into hers, she could feel herself turning into mush at his feet. The message in his actions was clear enough. 'don't give up on me? Don't let me go?' She didn't.

She pushed, prodded, and teased him mercilessly through everything he came across. He returned the favor, often being her late night ride home. Her tarnished prince who would come to her text when she was in trouble. Awful ironic when she sat and thought about it. She sat on the steps in front of a club, her knees tucked tightly into her chest, waiting. She was almost asleep when the limo pulled up, her head lolling to one side.

"Jenny, when are you going to convince Lily to get you your own driver?" He asked, patient as she stood shakily and climbed into the back of his limo.

"I don't need one," she told him, smiling. "I have you." She laid down on the seat, yawning. After much convincing, she'd let her beautiful blonde hair grow back out, and now Chuck played with it leisurely.

"Why doesn't your boyfriend ever take you home?" He inquired, staring out of the window. Jenny yawned deeply.

"I don't trust Evan."

"And you trust me?" He laughed.

"Yeah." Chuck kept quiet the rest of the ride, helping her out of the car when they arrived at the New York Palace Hotel. She was practically unconscious when she snuggled down into the satin covers, and Chuck turned, ready to go back to sleep. He had a board meeting the next morning and Lily would murder him if he was late. The problem was that he found his hand was still in Jenny's grip. She was reluctant to relinquish it. She smiled up at him groggily.

"Don't let me go?" He didn't. Instead he crawled into bed with her, wrapping his arms around her pencil thin waist.

"Never say never little J."


	4. Pictures Of You

**Title:** Pictures of You, Pictures of Me

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

**Rating:** PG

**A/N:** You may interpret however you deem fit, romantic or friendship.

After Chuck moved back in with Lily, Jenny found that if she squinted REALLY hard, she could stand the sight of Chuck without her gag reflex acting up. (At least that's what she says when he asks why the HELL she's squinting at him.)

"Humphrey why in the HELL are you squinting at me?" Chuck sneered at her and Eric turns expecting an answer. Jenny just smiles at Eric and yanks him up by the arm.

"I found a way to look at Chuck with throwing up." She sounds proud of herself as she stomps out of the Vander Bass suite, Eric looks over his shoulder at his stepbrother and shrugs helplessly. Chuck shakes his head and forgets about it, until much later. He's lying in bed with Jenny Humphrey, and he's just discovered that, of all the things he is good at, ice skating isn't one of them. Her head is cradled in the crook of his shoulder and he looks down at her.

"Well, you've spent an entire day looking at me Jennifer, and you have yet to throw up." Jenny pauses, and when she finally understands it, she blushes and ducks her head. She moves closer to him, stretching a bit as she does so.

"I was lying about why I was squinting at you." She grins at the smug look on his face. "I was trying to figure out if there was green specks in your eyes." She squints up at him playfully, as he pulls her closer. "There are."

xxx

"You're disgusting." He drawled, grinning as she jumped, splashing juice onto her formerly pristine white top. She makes a noise akin to a strangled grunt and Chuck laughs.

"What are you talking about?" She glares at him, frustrated.

"You just drank straight out of the carton." He pointed out, straightening his tie.

"It's my carton!"

"What if someone wanted to drink some?" Jenny scowled, shrugging off her shirt, and checking that the tank-top beneath it is in good condition.

"You don't." She tells him tartly, setting down her ruined shirt and brushing past him to find Serena, or Serena's closet. Chuck stares after her. Jenny Humphrey looked good in a tank-top and her scene/emo/goth girl skirt, better than he had ever expected.

"I said someone." He doesn't see her color faintly, and she's thankful for that.

"You ruined my shirt Bass." She spits out instead.

"Well, you ruined my morning, so we're even now." He says, despite his smile. They were both lying. Jenny liked the idea that Chuck saw her in as close to nothing as she dared. And well, Chuck didn't mind the view. That wouldn't be the last time he'd destroyed her clothes either.

xxx

"I cannot believe you ripped my jeans!" She exclaimed laughing, sitting up, resting on her elbows. Chuck lay beside her grinning widely, exhausted.

"I'll buy you new ones." He offered, closing his eyes.

"Those were my favorite!" She protested, running her hands through her hair, damp with sweat. Chuck rolss on top of her, hovering over her briefly before kissing her. When they broke apart, he smiled lazily.

"The end justifies the means." Jenny shook her head.

"You're quoting Machiavelli." She said in disbelief. There was no knowing what Chuck Bass was capable of when he put his mind to it. His current hobby was Jenny Humphrey. Or making Jenny Humphrey smile that cute disbelieving smile. Chuck collapsed back down next to her.

"Yes, I am. Those, my dear J, are words to live by." Jenny giggled.

"You're clever. And you're nicer than most people think you are." She pointed out. Chuck looked affronted.

"Fuck you." He smiled.

"Fuck you." She said, smiling back.

"Chuck! You scored us a point!" Nate called, running up to the couple, who was lying on the grass. Both looked up and smiled.

"We scored a point!" Chuck said triumphantly, throwing his hands into the air. "I scored a point!" Jenny smiled and nodded. Nate shook his head,

"Chuck?" Nate said smiling. "I don't think it counts because you killed Jenny's jeans in the process!"

"Yes but that doesn't matter, _**I scored a point!**_"


	5. Irony

**Title:** Irony

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

**Rating:** PG

**A/N:** You may interpret however you deem fit, romantic or friendship.

It was _**so**_ easy to make Jenny Humphrey happy. To make her laugh, glee shimmering in dusky grey orbs. That's was what her _attraction_ was, what made Chuck watch her with careful, calculating eyes. It seemed everyone around him could make her smile with ease. No one could make Blair smile like Jenny smiled, with happy abandon. While everything about Blair Waldorf was guarded and alert. It hadn't always been...once upon a time, he'd been able to make Blair smile vivaciously. But it was years ago, long before the words 'Yale' and 'one night stand' were a part of their daily vocabulary. When Chuck let Blair go, no one could have felt more incompetent or deficient. He set out to make _someone _happy. Even if they weren't as admirable, or cunning, or even as alluring as Blair had been, still was as a matter of fact. So, Chuck Bass strove to make someone happy, and that lucky someone happened to be Jenny Humphrey. Slowly, she let him in. It was an almost agonizingly slow process, while she learned to trust him. Somewhere along the way, Chuck discovered that he kinda liked making Jenny happy. Enjoyed seeing her face light up. Somehow, probably just to spite him, he found that making Jenny made _**HIM**_ happy. How fucking messed up was that?


	6. Something There

**Title:** Something There

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

**Rating:** PG

Jenny watched him try to wrap Nate's Christmas present with an amused smile on her face. There was something almost endearing in the way he looked at her just then, sheepishly asking for her help. The cold, callousness had left him and Jenny saw something, well something that hadn't been there before.

Chuck caught her smiling at him with the same sweet smile she'd given him at the Kiss On Lips party. She helped him wrap Nathaniel's present, and when their hands brushed briefly, she didn't tense or cringe. There was no loathing in her eyes. And Chuck wondered briefly if she was crushing on him again. Impossible.

"_No Chuck. Absolutely not, by no means, negative, nix, no way, not by any means."_

But...she was giving him a smile. And, there was definitely something. Something that hadn't been there before. Not at the party. Not when she cried on his shoulder. There was _something_.


End file.
